President Obama is expected to nominate former George W. Bush administration official James Comey as the head of the FBI, people familiar with the decision said yesterday.

Comey, who served in the Justice Department under Bush, would replace Director Robert Mueller, who has led the agency since before the 9/11 terror attacks.

Mueller is expected to step down in the fall.

Comey, 52, served as deputy US attorney general for Bush, and had previously been the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

He gained fame and notoriety in Washington in 2004 for refusing to certify the legal aspects of National Security Agency domestic surveillance during a stint as acting attorney general while John Ashcroft was hospitalized with pancreatitis.

His actions endeared him to many congressional Democrats opposed to Bush’s domestic-surveillance program.